Ex-irs Agent Pleads Guilty To Using Seized Property

A former Internal Revenue Service employee charged two weeks ago with misappropriating property seized from a convicted drug smuggler pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor.

Marty Vogel Sr., 48, of Orlando, pleaded guilty at his first court appearance and was freed on a personal recognizance bond.

U.S. Magistrate Donald Dietrich ordered federal probation and parole officials to conduct a background investigation before sentencing. Vogel is expected to be sentenced within a month. He faces up to one year in prison and $1,000 in fines.

Vogel, an IRS revenue officer for 25 years, resigned while under internal investigation in June.

A plea agreement filed in the case said that Vogel illegally used a combination stove-sink-refrigerator, numerous household goods -- including a television and a rug -- and cash seized from convicted drug smuggler Robert Govern of Winter Park in 1982. He was accused of using the property from May to December 1984.

Govern's assets, including his Winter Park mansion, were seized by the IRS after his conviction to help cover $13.3 million in back taxes. The property was seized and stored by the IRS under Vogel's supervision.

Vogel told the magistrate that he ''borrowed'' many of the items.

The plea agreement also said Vogel charged $750 in electrical and air- conditioning work at his Longwood home to an apartment complex Govern had owned.

Friends said Vogel used the items to furnish an apartment after he separated from his wife last year. The couple was divorced in April 1985 after 24 years of marriage.

Vogel's ex-wife, Alma, who attended the hearing, said she had nothing to do with Vogel's actions involving the seized property.

Friends and co-workers of Vogel said he has had severe personal, family and financial problems during the past year. They said he intended to return the borrowed items before the government auctioned off the property.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Calvacca said Vogel, who cooperated throughout the probe, returned all of the property and reimbursed the government for the other money involved in the case.